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Saturday, 11 October 2014

INTERVIEW WITH CONVENT GUILT

Convent Guilt just released their first album Guns for hire, via Cruz del Sur records and Shadow Kingdom Records! You can check the detailed review here

This is the interview with the band

Hi guys! First of all thank you very much for taking the time!

No trouble at all. Thanks for taking the time to interview us!

As a little introduction, convent guilt is really new band with a demo in 2012 and the album just released this week, tell me how the band was formed and why did you choose Convent Guilt as your band's name?

Nothing wrong with a quick introduction: Convent Guilt formed in 2010. For years I played in a death/thrash band called Shackles, which also featured both Connie G guitarists. Shackles always had a lot of heavy metal influences and it made sense to have a crack at something along more ‘traditional’ lines. The name came to me at a time I don’t even remember. The idea was to go for a ‘good and evil’ two word name (think of Judas Priest, Angel Witch, Sacred Blade), particularly one that included words that aren’t used all the time. Thus was Convent Guilt born.

How was the process of recording Guns for Hire album?

It was bloody hard work, but you expect that. There’s no point doing a quick job just to save time and money – this thing will stay with you ‘til the end of your days, so you want to do it right. We spent a few weekends getting things to a level we were comfortable with. The album was recorded in the same studio as our demo (A Sharp Studio in Sydney) and I think that familiarity helped.

How long did it take to create it?

Given that none of our demo tracks were recycled for the album, we more or less wrote the songs over a 1 1/2 year period after the demo was recorded. ‘Don’t close your eyes’ is an older song, but it’s an exception.

Epic, hard rocker acdc, black Sabbath and early NWOBHM elements are present when the listener plays any of the tracks, what are the main influences of the band?

One thing I’m proud of with Convent Guilt is different elements come to mind for everyone who listens to the band. Our influences cover a wide range of hard rock and heavy metal, though many NWOBHM bands certainly hold a strong attraction. AC/DC, Aerosmith, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Motorhead, Savatage, Riot, Witchcross, Holocaust, Trespass, Thin Lizzy… the list goes on. Beyond music, we’re strongly influenced by Australian history and the dusty land in which we dwell.

It's something awesome to listen, how the vocals go from the Virtue-like epic style in Angels in black leather, shading to hard rocker drippings in convict at arms and transforming to evil feelings in perverse altar, which style do you feel more comfortable and why?

Thanks, I’m glad you appreciate the rough throat! To be honest, I’m not sure which style is most comfortable. I’m guided by emotion with my vocals, rather than perfect technique. No doubt plenty of people will say that’s a bad thing, but I think feeling and passion is often lost these days. The main thing on the album is variety, as I think the best albums of yore had that. Sure, we have our sound and our style, but we like to mix things up within that context.

How do you feel after this album was finished?

Firstly we felt buggered. That happens when you finish something that takes a lot of time and effort. Then we felt impatient, waiting for the sucker to be released. The overall feeling however is satisfaction, as we’ve come up with an album that we’re proud of and that is an honest reflection of what we do.

How is the international media reacting to the album so far?

The album is released on LP by Cruz del Sur (based in Italy), CD by Shadow Kingdom (based in the USA) and on tape by Dying Victims Productions (based in Germany). I think the fact that our labels are based ‘closer to the action’ has really helped, as there has been a lot of promotion done already. Reviews have been mixed, but you will never please everyone. You have to take them with a grain of salt though, because they often reflect more the taste (or lack of it) of the reviewer than the quality of the music.

How is the traditional heavy metal scene in Australia? Tell me also about the band's tour life, how is it going since the release of your demo in 2012?

The scene here is small, but there is hope. Apart from Convent Guilt, there’s Johnny Touch, Raven Black night, Doomed Beast, Demons Gate, Outcast, The Wizar’d and Dracula at various stages of their careers. We don’t play a lot – maybe half a dozen times a year at most – and shows are sort of ‘one here, one there’, rather than tours. We have four shows around Australia between now and early next year and that’ll just about do us I think.

The album is out now and the band need a tour plan, what are the plans? Is there any national tour coming?

Due to the distance and relatively few decent-sized cities to play in Australia, touring is not really viable. We’re playing in Bendigo, Bathurst, Hobart and Melbourne – and if you check them out on a map you’ll realize there’s a fair bit of country/water in between. Add to that the fact that we all have day jobs and it’s hard to justify a two week jaunt across the land.

It's still early but do you have plans of playing internationally?

Definitely so. The plan is to let the album weave its way into people’s heads and then see if there’s interest in playing overseas. Maybe next year if things go well.

Have you had any offer of playing in another country?

No offers yet. I think we’ll try to go to New Zealand next, as it’s close and easy to arrange. It’s practically another state of Australia anyway.

Tell me about your best experiences on stage.

With Convent Guilt my favourite show was probably the Evil Invaders festival we played in Sydney. As for other bands I’ve played with, Headbangers Open Air with Trench Hell (and in fact the whole Trench Hell tour of Europe) was a blast. The best Shackles show was our first visit to Hobart: leather, whiskey, women and wildfire.

What bands have you shared stage with?

Convent Guilt played with Tankard and Abigail a few months ago. Apart from that, we’ve played with local bands such as Denouncement Pyre, Innsmouth, Hellbringer, Erebus Enthroned and The Corps. We often play with black and death metal bands, as they tend to be our mates and people with similar ideas about music, even if differently portrayed.

Which country would you like to visit and which bands would you like to share stage in the future?

Any country is fine by me. I’ve played throughout Western/Northern Europe and would love to take Connie G over there. The US would be great as well. Hmm, how about England? Would be nice to go back to the old roots. As for who to play with, this sounds like a cop out but we’ll gladly play with any band we respect. A couple of names of present-day heavy metal bands I rate: High Spirits and Black Trip.

Bandemonic, Night or Toledo steel are bands that have similarities with your style, do you know them?

Unfortunately I don’t. Thanks for the tip off though, as I will check them out.

Where do you see the band in 3 years time?

A bit more bald, a bit more grey and a bit more jaded. Beyond that, hopefully with another album and an overseas tour under our belt

Finally, could you leave a message to your fans?

Thanks for the support so far. We appreciate it. Convent Guilt fans are the ones who realize music is more about passion and feeling than crystal clean perfection; about catchy songs rather than technical drudgery; about starting fires rather than putting them out. You are what hard rock is about.

Thanks so much for your time and I hope to see you soon on stage! Cheers

Thanks mate, all the best to you and your ‘zine. Give us a stage and we’ll give you a show!

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